The Safety Blanket

I dreamed about whales
and watching them, after I met you.
Beneath me and the water they jutted out from nowhere
or a crack in the glass of the aquarium.

And whales are so big, bigger than picture books could ever
prepare you. The orca even, as big as my first-story house
and the humpback, grey like clouds only closer: like fog.
The whales were so close beneath by feet,

my soles felt their slippery hide as they skimmed under-
neath. And their skin was cold, wet, like a fish. But inside
their hearts beat and their blood ran
warm as the flesh between.